The twist behind Netflix’s Knives Out sequel Wake Up Dead Man? It’ll put you to sleep

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Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery

Written and directed by Rian Johnson

Starring Daniel Craig, Josh O’Connor and Glenn Close

Classification N/A; 144 minutes

Opens in select theatres Nov. 26; streaming on Netflix starting Dec. 12

Bless me, Father, for I have sinned.

A few years ago, I fell under the spell of the Knives Out franchise, Rian Johnson’s update of the whodunnit mystery genre that felt bouncy and clever enough to compensate for the fact that the “who” of the “dunnit” equation wasn’t all that much of a shocker. Both Johnson’s first Knives Out film in 2019 and its 2022 sequel Glass Onion were so expertly cast and peppy in their construction that it was easy for a wayward soul such as myself to give into temptation and bask in Johnson’s particular brand of impure pop pleasure.

But between then and now, the heavenly light around the Knives Out franchise has dimmed considerably, with the latest instalment, the neo-gothic and faith-centric Wake Up Dead Man, turning this acolyte into something of an apostate. Exceptionally overlong, crammed with miscast performers putting in half the effort they should, and so overly pleased with its various (and rather middling) twists that it leaps from “clever” to “pompous” in one fell swoop, Wake Up Dead Man represents a hard and rough fall from grace.

Remixing the locked-room mysteries of Agatha Christie with the darker, more horror-inflicted corners of Edgar Allan Poe and John Dickson Carr, this new instalment in the adventures of Detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) feels torn between Johnson’s desire to entertain his audience and himself. Most disappointing of all: This isn’t exactly a Benoit Blanc film, given that the Southern-fried sleuth doesn’t show up until about 40 minutes into the alleged fun.

Instead, Wake Up Dead Man is more a vehicle for Josh O’Connor, a rising and thoroughly interesting leading man (see his slippery work in Kelly Reichardt’s anti-heist film The Mastermind before the year is up) who nevertheless cannot quite shoulder the dreary, dead weights that Johnson’s script places upon his shoulders.

Playing Reverend Jud Duplenticy, a charming if pugilism-prone priest who is sent to an upstate New York parish in the hopes of tempering the spirits of the irascible Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin), O’Connor gets the opportunity to play both hero and prime suspect once Wicks is found dead near his bully pulpit. Or has Wicks in fact pulled a Jesus and resurrected himself, absolving Rev. Duplenticy’s presumed guilt while raising a host of other, far more bewildering questions?

This is the science-meets-spirit dilemma that Blanc walks into deep into the film – the entire first act is viewed from Rev. Duplenticy’s perspective – and it takes even longer for the mysteries to be stripped back. In between, Johnson introduces us to a host of unmemorable supporting characters/potential killers, most of whom either fail to register any interest or energy (Kerry Washington’s grumpy lawyer, Cailee Spaeny’s aggrieved cellist, Andrew Scott’s has-been novelist) or whose talents feel stiffened by the contours of the film’s script (Brolin is appropriately fiery as a Trump stand-in, even if that joke is played to death, while Glenn Close gets to play her own stern version of Dana Carvey’s Church Lady).

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While Johnson has thankfully dropped the parade of celebrities-playing-themselves cameos that were peppered into Glass Onion – well, mostly; Jeremy Renner, last seen shilling hot sauce in that film, is back here, albeit playing an altogether different character – Wake Up Dead man only feels truly alive, performance-wise, when Craig gets to alternately pair up or face off against O’Connor.

Even if you can’t help but feel the two Brits would feel more at home in a murder-mystery set in the U.K. countryside – as might fellow countryman Scott – the leading men consistently enliven what is otherwise a sometimes deathly dull affair. God bless ‘em.